For the first time in more than a century, no marches or public commemorative services took place for this year’s Anzac day due to the coronavirus-imposed restrictions.
But this didn’t stop people in Australia and around the world to pay their respects to the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand service men and women, by observing a minute’s silence from their home and finding appropriate ways to honour those who served and the fallen.
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Amongst them many Greek Australians, like the Hatzisavas family in Sydney’s Bella Vista.
“We are proud Greek Australians who honour our heroes past and present,” says Ms Petty Hatzisavas.
Her 10-year-old daughter, Ellie, performed the last post outside their house at dawn on Saturday, 25 April, with the ode read by her sisters Angelina, 12 and Victoria, 9.
https://www.facebook.com/petty.hatzisavas/videos/10157399755737677/
The Hellenic link to the Anzacs was also commemorated by Greeks and Philhellenes alike.
In Melbourne’s Brunswick, a suburb known to be the home of many descendants of Australian soldiers who served in Greece across both World Wars, local bagpiper Stacey Harris decided to honour this connection with a personal tribute, proudly flying the Hellenic flag from her bagpipes.
Ms Harris has performed her moving laments at various commemorative events in Melbourne honouring the Anzacs in Greece, such as the annual service at Albert Parks’ Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial and at the Lemnos Tree at the Shrine of Remembrance.
The close bonds between Greeks and Anzacs were also commemorated in Greece, with Australia’s Ambassador Arthur Spyrou, visiting the Phaleron War Cemetery in Athens, to lay a wreath in honour of the original Anzacs, but also all members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces who sacrificed their lives during or a result of service.
Photos: Facebook/Australia in Greece
